254 



NATURE 



\yuly 15, 1880 



has been succes'^fully traced to its origin in a harmless dust 

 whirl generated between two currents of air which met in such 

 a way as to produce a whirl in the opposite direction to the 

 hands of a watch, the air at the same time alon^ its subsequent 

 path being oppressively warm and moist. The third tornado 

 occurred about the same time, and passed to the northeast, near 

 Jefferson City. Tiie area covered by these three tornadoes is about 

 80 square miles, and more than 100 persons lost their lives. 

 Many interesting points were noted by Prof. Nipher and his 

 staff of observers. Almost all the trees blown down were 

 throH-n down in the line of the tornado track, and the 

 lane of prostrate trees lying in the line of the storm's path was 

 continued across sparsely wooded tracts, where, consequently, 

 the destructive lane was formed, not by the trees falling on each 

 other, but by each tree being overturned by the violence of the 

 gust. One of the observers, Mrs. Lenz, reports that the whirl- 

 wind cloud seemed to be of a circular or wheel shape, dark and 

 heavy on its edges, and white or more like an ordinary cloud in 

 the interior ; her description being that it looked like a coiled 

 snake whirling round and round a white centre. In this connec- 

 tion an additional observation was made by another observer, 

 Mr. Steel, to the effect that the bottom of the cloud-funnel 

 seemed to sway somewhat, as well as to move up and down ; it 

 looked like dark smoke, and he could occasionally see up 

 into the funnel, which seemed to be hollow, the inside appearing 

 to be lighter coloured than the outside. It is much to be wished 

 that future observers who may be so circumstanced as to be 

 able to observe this feature of whirlwinds would endeavour 

 to note the motions, whether upward or downward, in the 

 interior and on the outside of the funnel, accurate observations 

 on this point being of supreme importance in arriving at a correct 

 knowledge of whirlwinds. It was also noted that trees were 

 stripped of their bark only where the ground was covered with 

 dBris, and the barking was confined to the sides of the trees 

 exposed to the flying missiles. It is a singular circumstance that 

 along the whole path of the tornado not a single flash of lightning 

 was observed. 



In the Missoicri Weather Service Report referred to above the 

 tracks of these tornados are laid down on the map accompanying 

 the report, and it is in this part of the State that the rainfall of the 

 month was greatest, the maximum of S'oo inches being at Verona, 

 which is situated near the point where the tornadoes originated. 

 The rainfall over the southern portion of the State equalled five 

 inches, and the amount diminished on proceeding northward. 

 The minimum amount was recorded along the northern slopes of 

 the Missouri valley, the least fall being i '07 inch at Glasgow. 

 The mean temperature was S8°7 at St. Louis, or 2°-6 in excess 

 of the average of April. A general and severe fall of tempera- 

 ture followed the storms of the 18th, when sno.T fell at Oregon, 

 Palmyra, Neosko, and Greenfield. 



We are indebted to Mr. W. A. Dixon, Sydney, for a commu- 

 nication on the meteorology of a guano island, originally m.ade 

 by him to the Royal Society of New South Wales. The island 

 referred to is Maiden Island, in 4* 2' S. lat. and 154° 58' W. 

 long. ; it is triangular in shape, of purely coral formation, and 

 comprising a land area of little over 10,000 acres. The climate 

 of the island, though near the equator, and sometimes having 

 the north-east and sometimes the south-east trades, is generally 

 characterised by extreme dryness. Mr. Dixon resided in Maiden 

 Island two and a half years, dating from October 13, 1866, 

 when the following amounts of rain were collected : — In Novem- 

 ber, 1S66, there fell 0-50 inch ; in 1867 there fell in September 

 o'26 inch ; October, o'23 inch ; November, 0-63 inch ; and 

 December, 0-19 inch ; in all, 1-31 inch in twelve days. In 1868 

 there fell in January 0-69 inch ; February, 0-002 inch; March, 

 0-17 inch ; April, 0-19 inch ; May, 0-56 inch ; June, 0'I2 inch ; 

 July, 3-82 inches ; August, 0-87 inch ; September, o-il inch ; 

 October, 2-89 inches; November, 077 inch; and December, 

 3-46 inches ; in all, 13-60 inches in fifty-two days. In 1S69 the 

 rainfall was in January, 12-73 inches ; in February, 4-83 inches; 

 and March, 2-77 inches ; for the three months, 20-33 inches in 

 twenty-eight days. On Janu.ary 2S-29, 1S69, there fell in eight 

 and a half hours 4-57 inches of rain. It was often noticed in 

 the daytime that whilst it rained heavily over the ocean all 

 round the island the moisture-laden clouds from the east dis- 

 appeared as they drifted over the island, and no rain fell. As 

 regards temperature, the variations of the thermometer in shade 

 were extremely regular. At daybreak it stood at 80", when it 

 gradually rose to 96* bet-ween 9 and 10 a.m., about which point 



it stood till shortly after sunset, when it began gradually to fall 

 to So* at 10 p.m., remaining near this point till morning. From 

 January 16 to 29, 1869, the temperature did not rise above 82°, 

 there being continuous rain, and no sun visible, for thirteen days, 

 with the wind due west. An unblackened thermometer fre- 

 quently exposed to the sun was never ob erved to rise above 

 io6'-o, but, covered with one inch of light grey soil, it rose to 

 '35°'°- Evaporation was observed at irregular intervals; an 

 average of eight days ending December II, 1868, gave 0-387 

 inch per day. In the beginning of October the wind was gene- 

 rally light east, with calms ; and the northeast trades began 

 abjut the middle of the month, varying from east to north-east 

 till the end of February, when light winds and calms again set 

 in, followed by south east and east trades till October. The 

 currents round the island changed with the changing of the 

 trades, and this change was marked by the movement of an 

 immense mass of sand forming the west beach. From the 

 beginning of March the sand went on accumulating till the 

 beginning of October, forming a beach 120 feet wide, 9 feet 

 high, and a mile long. When the sun crossed the zenith the 

 sand began to move to the south, and all that the waves could 

 reach was removed and carried to the south beach ; and the 

 whole of this sand was washed back when the sun again had 

 crossed the zenith going north. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Ir is stated that Col. Prjevalsky and his party are prisoners in 

 the hands of the Chinese, who, it will be remembered, prevented 

 him from proceeding to Lhassa. 



The A'tTO >'«-.f //liTiz/c/ publishes a telegram from St. John's, 

 Newfoundland, stating that the steamer Gubiare, conveying 

 Howgate's expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, has been towed 

 into St. John's with her machinei-y disabled. The message adds 

 that it is thought probable that she will be sufficiently repaired to 

 proceed north in about a fortnight. 



News from the Azores states that a disturbance of the earth 

 has occurred in the island of St. George, resulting in the forma- 

 tion of another small inland of about iS,ooo square yards, and 

 distant 600 yards from the shore. 



An Arctic Exhibition has been opened at the Alexandra 

 Palace, in which a gi'eat variety of objects, pictures, photo- 

 graphs, and other things connected with Arctic exploration are 

 displayed. The collection is both interesting and instructive, 

 and is well worth a visit, whatever we may think of Commander 

 Cheyne's scheme, in connection with which the exhibition is 

 being held. Mr. Coxwell makes an experimental ascent to-day 

 at the Palace in connection with Commander Cheyne's project. 



In the Archives des Sciences for June 15, Prof. Forel describes- 

 researches on the temperature of Lake Leman and other fresh- 

 water lakes. Intel- alia, it appears that the heat penetrates very 

 rapidly into the 50 or loo metres next the surface (in Lake 

 Leman) and very slowly in the deeper layers. The temperature 

 proved to be variable even at the extreme depth of 335 m. and 

 the degree of variation showed that depth was still far from the 

 depth where variability ceases. Ileat penetrates more deeply 

 into Lake Leman than into L.ake Thun ; the isotherms descend 

 on an average 24 m. deeper. By January 15, 18S0, Lake Leman 

 is considered to have expended all the heat put in reserve during 

 the summer of 1879. (This point was not reached in 1S79 till 

 February 7.) 



No. 87 of the Zeitsehrift of the Berlin Geographical Society 

 has a long and important article by G. Harting on the forma- 

 tion of valleys. K. Himly gives an interesting account of the 

 " Si Vu Shui Tao Ki," a Chinese work, published in 1824, on 

 the hydrography of Central Asia. There are two articles on 

 South America : one by Max Beschoren, on the forest region of 

 the Rio Uruguay in the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do 

 Sul, and the other by Arthur Werthemann, on the Rivers 

 Paranapura and Cahuapanas in the Peruvian department Ama- 

 zonas. The journal of the late Erwin v. Bary in North Africa 

 is continued. From the Verhandlungen, No. 6, we learn that 

 the Swiss contemplate a survey of both coasts of the Red Sea 

 for commercial purposes, and a list is given, based on Schlagin- 

 tweit's investigations, of the greatest heights of North India and 

 Central Asia. 



The principal article in the July number of Petermann's 

 Mittheiliingen is on the variation in the quantity of water in the 



